Terence “Bud” Crawford will return to the scene of many of
his greatest professional triumphs intent on stopping a man
who has repeatedly lobbied for a fight. Crawford will make
the first defense of his WBO welterweight world title
against Jose Benavidez Jr. on Saturday, Oct. 13 at the CHI
Health Center Omaha (formerly the CenturyLink Center).
Crawford-Benavidez will air live and exclusively on ESPN and
ESPN Deportes at 10:30 p.m. ET with undercards streaming
live in the United States at 7 p.m. ET on ESPN+ - the new
multi-sport, direct-to-consumer subscription streaming
service from The Walt Disney Company's Direct-to-Consumer &
International segment in conjunction with ESPN.

It was Benavidez who challenged Crawford in Corpus Christi,
Texas, this past February, accusing him of ducking a
potential showdown. Crawford invited Benavidez to “step
outside” before cooler heads prevailed. They will settle the
score in front of a raucous crowd who will be cheering on
their hometown hero.
ESPN’s coverage of the event starts Friday, Oct. 12 with the
live Top Rank on ESPN Crawford vs. Benavidez Jr. Weigh-In
show. Lineup (ET):

“The Crawford-Benavidez fight is an old-time grudge match.
These are two elite fighters who don’t care for each other,
to put it mildly,” said Bob Arum, Top Rank’s founder and
CEO. “They will battle each other at a fever pitch. I can’t
wait to watch the action.”

“This fight is the fight he has been calling for, and now he
will get the chance to see what it’s like to be in the ring
with a real champion,” Crawford said. I’ll happily give him
his first L.”

“I’ve been wanting this fight for three years. I know I have
what it takes to beat him, and I am going to beat him,”
Benavidez said. “Crawford has been running his mouth and
saying I’m a nobody. I’m going to take full advantage of
this opportunity.”

Crawford (33-0, 24 KOs) is a three-division world champion,
a pound-for-pound elite who was recently named “Fighter of
the Year” at the 2018 ESPY Awards. In his first bout of
2018, June 9 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, he
defeated defending WBO welterweight champion Jeff Horn via
ninth-round TKO. Crawford did not miss a beat against Horn
despite a nearly 10-month layoff due to a hand injury. Prior
to dominating Horn, Crawford became only the third fighter
of the four-belt era to unify all the belts when he knocked
out fellow unified 140-pound champion Julius Indongo in the
third round. Crawford has drawn a total of 44,360 fans in
four bouts at the CHI Health Center Omaha, including nearly
11,000 when he knocked down Yuriorkis Gamboa four times en
route to a ninth-round TKO to retain the WBO lightweight
title in one of the best fights of 2014. Five months after
the Gamboa win, Crawford cruised to a wide unanimous
decision against Ray Beltran, who went on to win that title
more than three years later. In his most recent CHI Health
Center Omaha appearance, Dec. 10, 2016 against John Molina
Jr., 11,270 fans packed the building as Crawford battered
Molina before stopping him in the eighth round. Crawford is
11-0 with eight knockouts in world title bouts and is ranked
by many boxing experts as the world’s best fighter.

Benavidez (27-0, 18 KOs), a former WBA interim super
lightweight champion, turned pro in 2010 following a
standout amateur career that included a 2009 National Golden
Gloves gold medal at 141 pounds. His road to this
career-defining fight has been anything but smooth, as he
was shot multiple times in an August 2016 incident in his
hometown of Phoenix. After a nearly 18-month layoff,
Benavidez returned on Feb. 3, 2018 in Corpus Christi with an
eighth-round TKO against Matthew Strode. It was before the
weigh-in for the Strode bout that Benavidez confronted
Crawford. Benavidez last fought on the Crawford vs. Horn
undercard, knocking out the previously undefeated Frank
Rojas at 1:23 of the opening round.